Vienna Humanities Festival 2025–ON EDGE / UNBEHAGEN 24-28 Sept

Individuals and societies alike are on edge today, as the world changes in unexpected and deeply unsettling ways. What we are witnessing may very well be a Gramscian interregnum in which the old order has collapsed but its successor is still struggling to emerge. The morbid symptoms of this crisis are becoming apparent at nearly every turn, leaving us anxious and confused.

Life-changing technological innovation is advancing at an often unpredictable pace. Liberalism is under sustained attack, as is faith in basic scientific principles. Compassion seems to be going out of fashion, supplanted by brutal transactional values. Can humanity remain human under such strenuous circumstances?

The political, economic, and social changes have been so swift that there is a temptation to surrender to a complexity that is hard to untangle. Yet this emotional labyrinth also challenges us to find a way out, by facing uncomfortable realities, unpicking intricacies, and standing up for a better tomorrow. In a series of enlightening discussions with some of the greatest thinkers of our time, the Vienna Humanities Festival will explore the political, ecological, technological, economic, psychological and philosophical dilemmas now facing us – dilemmas that may seem overwhelming but which perhaps contain the seeds of renewal and change.

The full programme of this year’s Vienna Humanities Festival is now available online.